I got to know him more than a year ago, when we hosted a CEO committee of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum in an effort to improve our tech coverage, and he’s been a helpful resource in our reporting since.

A Sept. 9 Jewish Press of Tampa piece said the trip began as an effort of the Tampa Jewish Federation to send aid to the city of Ashdod evolved into a “multipurpose mission.” Participants included a delegation of Federation leaders, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and two other city officials.

Before boarding the plane, Goldberg, president of North American operations for Absolute Mobile Solutions, said the group gathered to discuss their reasons for joining the mission. “All seemed to be in agreement that there was a great opportunity to learn how Israel became the ‘Start-Up Nation,’” he said.

Among his other lasting images of the trip were his observations of Buckhorn, namely his fast pace.

“From the moment we got off the plane, we were on a tight time schedule. Our first meeting occurred almost as soon as we got to Israel with no time for rest,” Goldberg told me.

People need to know Buckhorn wasn’t sipping champagne in first class, Goldberg said. He sat in coach, walked in the cold rain and kept the group on a feverish pace.

The final day was spent touring in Ashdod, including a visit to city hall to meet with Ashdod’s mayors and some other city officials.

“The mayor presented a signed [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers helmet and [Tampa Bay] Lightning jersey as well as a plaque commemorating Ashdod and Tampa’s sister city status. Ashdod presented Buckhorn with a similar plaque and the mayor extended an invitation to further the economic relationship between the two cities,” Goldberg said.

“At this venture, people elected me to change the economic DNA of this community and the only way we can do that is to transition from an old economy to a new economy and the state of Israel is really right now, the hotbed of those types of technologies and those types of industries and that’s why I’m going,” he said.

Goldberg said he read the WMNF story and, as a participant in the mission, was annoyed primarily by he headline.

“It seemed to me to be an attempt to use the Palestinian conflict to sensationalize the trade mission and take focus off the mayor’s goals, he said.

Alfred said his costs were around $3,000 but he ended up paying more as a late addition.

“Everyone paid [his or her] own way except the mayor whose cost came from his travel budget,” he said.

The University of South Florida was also active on the trip. USF already has a partnership with Tel Aviv company Simbionix to develop a laparoscopic hysterectomy simulator for the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation. The USF delegation included Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the USF College of Medicine, who also met with Phillips Corp. in Haifa.